Lyla Byers has never been afraid to try new things. The Penhold senior and Innisfail Legion member had spent 30 years working on a tobacco farm in Ontario, prior to moving out to Alberta. After she arrived, a friend who managed a bar asked her to help out with waitressing one Saturday. "I had never waitressed before, and it happened to be a pub-crawl night," she laughed. "I said to myself after the shift was finished, I can't do this. Then I found out I had made $150 in tips and decided perhaps I could." That decision led to a new career that lasted several more years, in the hospitality industry, waitressing and eventually managing.
Now that she is officially enjoying her golden years, Byers has decided that retired should not mean idle. About three years ago, she embarked on a brand new career path — children's story author.
Prior to writing her first story, Byers never had ambitions to become an author. "Of course I never had ambitions to become a waitress either," she said. "Life just takes you in certain directions sometimes."
Her latest venture began one cold and blustery afternoon, when she was looking out her window, wondering what to do with herself on such a miserable day. A page from a newspaper blew by and danced around in the wind for a while. Another page soon came along and joined in the dance. Eventually, the two pages settled in a corner and rested there, and an idea for a story began to form in Byers' mind. She sat down and wrote her very first story, The Daily Paper, a tale personifying a couple of pages of the local paper, and exploring how they feel about their role in the lives of the people who read them.
Her appetite for writing whetted, Byers soon found she was inspired by a wide variety of things — a rooster figurine (Bob) which she brought home from a shopping excursion one day, a cat trying to make its way through a deep snowfall, a mule and a donkey she noticed while out for a drive in the country.
Byers is now the author of 11 different children's books, with a couple more in the works. "Most of the books have three different stories in them," said Byers. "They are for people aged three to 103, and each story teaches a little bit of a lesson."
Byers' involvement in the creative process doesn't end with the writing. She also publishes all the books she writes, using a home computer and a laminating machine. "It is quite the process," she said. "First I start with a paper copy of the story. Then I transfer that story to the computer and have someone edit it. Then I find the pictures, set up the pages, have it edited again, create the cover, print it all out, laminate the cover, punch out the holes for binding, and finally fasten it all together with a coil spine."
It may be a lot of work, but it is definitely worth it to Byers. Some publishing companies and bookstores have shown interest in her work, but they require monetary advances or changes in format that Byers feels is unnecessary at this point.
The author sells the books herself at markets all over Central Alberta. "I usually have three copies of each book on hand, and replace them as necessary," she said. She also takes orders from customers and sells them through her website, www.storiesforkids.ca. The books are reasonably priced — $14.95 for the three-story books and $19.95 for her dinosaur-themed book, which is a longer, single story for older children. "It isn't really about the money," she said. "It is important to recoup the costs of production, of course, but I really love writing these stories and meeting all the interesting people that I get to meet at the markets. Even if I go home without selling a single book, I can often say that it was a good day because I met someone interesting."
Byers will be selling her books at an upcoming Christmas market in Lacombe, and on Nov. 30, Byers will be participating in the Winter Learning Fair at the Dr. George Kemp House, where her books will also be available for purchase." I will be reading some of my stories that day," she said. "It should be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it."
